Adam Hall: The Quiller Memorandum

This was what I had come to think of as the Parallel Assumption. I knew that Solly Rothstein had been doubling with Phoenix. It thus seemed reasonable to assume that he was doing two jobs in parallel: preparing to wipe out San Caterina in the Argentine and preparing to wipe out the military centres of whatever country or countries Phoenix planned to attack. Solly would never have told me of his Argentine operation. He had wanted to tell me of the work he was doing for Phoenix. Later, had he lived, he would have informed both Russia and the Allied commands in Berlin, the moment Phoenix asked him to produce the nine capsules. The operation would then be imminent and although he might not be given the actual date of its launching he would have five days' warning: one day for transmission of the capsules, four days for the plague to incubate. Certain of this ample period of warning, he passed no information out to the Allied Commands or the Soviets, since his idea was to let Phoenix build up their large-scale preparations so that when he sprang the leak they would be caught at the height of their endeavours and would thus serve long sentences.

I said into the tape: "The Rothstein capsules would of course have contained a harmless culture. The instant Phoenix knew he was doubling they shot him and raided his laboratory to seize any papers that might incriminate them. At the same time they would have forced the laboratory assistants to indicate the most lethal of those bacilli then in culture, so that they could proceed with their plan to wipe out the nine Soviet centres, knowing that if Rothstein were doubling he could never have been expected to provide ‘live’ capsules. Every effort should clearly be made to trace any culture missing from the Rothstein laboratory and to grill both the assistants and the Phoenix agents who made the raid. The safe was broken open (see report by Captain Stettner, Z Commission) and it seems probable that an envelope addressed to the Russian Army Command and/or the Allied Commands would have been left there by Dr. Rothstein and subsequently removed and destroyed by Phoenix. The raid was carried out in haste, so that the metal container addressed to the Doctor's brother was overlooked, whereas almost no papers were left behind."

I cut the switch and sat for a minute, checking all mental hooks for material. It seemed about everything.

Pol asked: "Signal ends?"

"I don't know. Probably. There'll be a whole lot of details but there's no time now. Push it through if you want to."

Two of them linked up the tape to the London line for the play-back while Pol dialled on the other phone. In a minute he said: "General Stewart, please. Then find out where he is. This is LCB." He watched the men rigging the tape. "General Stewart? Our man is back ahead of schedule. You can go in when you're ready." He hung up.

The tape was running fast, reversed. Hengel spoke into the phone and asked for London. Pol sat on the edge of the desk and looked down at me.

"What happened to Zossen?"

I felt angry with him, and looked directly up at him so that the anger could drive out the other thing they'd all seen in my eyes. Pol was a pernickety man and he remembered everything. He remembered what I'd said to him in the box in the theatre when we'd been talking about Zossen. I had said: Give me a rope, and ask no questions .

"I don't know," I told him.

He said: "I mean do we have to put out smoke for you."

"No. He left a suicide note. I thought it was the best way."

Pol nodded and moved from the desk as London came on the line. They started the tape-recorder, and as the spools began turning I slid back on the chair and leaned my head on the wall and closed my eyes. My voice sounded very tired on the tape. I must be getting old, getting old.